Elderly Herefordshire residents were deceived into buying unnecessary and vastly overpriced spray foam loft insulation.
Herefordshire Council’s Trading Standards service is advising the public yet again to be vigilant of unsolicited telephone calls offering free loft insulation surveys. These are a ruse to send commission only salesmen round to scam people out of many thousands of pounds.
In a recent case, Herefordshire Council Trading Standards have obtained court injunctions against those involved in the running of Airtech Insulation Ltd, which while registered in Basingstoke actually operated out of the Bournemouth area targeting home owners all over the country for unnecessary spray foam loft insulation which left many unable to sell their homes and having to pay thousands to have the foam removed.
Recorder Judge Sheehan at Worcester County Court praised Herefordshire Council for their work on the case. The injunctions he imposed order the six defendants in future not to deceive consumers in any way. The order stays in place for a 10 year period. A breach of the order is contempt of court and can lead to a maximum of 2 years imprisonment.
The defendants were company director Stuart Gilmour (71), shareholders Heather and Leah Gilmour (69 & 43), all from Basingstoke, as well as three salesmen: Robert Henson (44) and Cameron Andrews (57) from Bournemouth and Mark Farrell (52 from Liverpool).
Stuart Gilmour’s son, David Gilmour (43, from Basingstoke), had a similar injunction against him from December 2017 for running Air Tight Renewables Ltd in Bournemouth, a company which also sold spray foam loft insulation to the elderly.
Charles Yarnold, Herefordshire Council’s Head of Regulatory and Technical Services said: “This was a long a complex case against Airtech Insulation Ltd which has had the desired outcome. In total 25 victim statements were obtained with the average age being 77. This shows an unacceptable targeting of vulnerable elderly home owners for what was wholly unnecessary work and at inflated prices. Spray foam can leave properties virtually unsaleable and compared to the recommended 270mm fibre glass wool insulation, spray foam will likely increase your heating bills, not reduce them as falsely claimed by the company."
In addition to the court injunctions, the judge ordered 5 of the defendants to pay a total of £66,129.00 in compensation for their victims. This covered full refunds and the cost of having the foam removed which is essential in each case.
Charles Yarnold went onto say, “There are an estimated 250,000 properties in the UK with spray foam loft insulation and victims will almost certainly be targeted for further related scams. These include roof spraying/coatings which are again unnecessary, overpriced and can damage the roof tiles. In addition they will be cold called by spray foam removal firms and while it is likely the foam should be removed, the prices are excessive and often they will con people into having further unnecessary insulation installed. The only loft insulation most people should have is up to 270mm fibre glass wool or similar mineral wool products.
All the initial contacts for these scams tend to be through unsolicited telephone calls and we urge all residents not to deal with any cold callers whatsoever, whether on the telephone or at the door.”
Anyone concerned about the activity of a potential rogue trader is urged to contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 2231133